Mobile Phones – Good & Bad Manners

Just about everyone uses a mobile phone but not everyone has good manners when using one, how often have we seen someone driving along the highway, maybe even children in the back, talking on their mobile? This is not only very bad manners it is also illegal in most countries in the world.

There are some very simple guidelines, usually just common sense on how to use a mobile without being obnoxious or downright rude. How often have I felt like reminding someone yelling on their phone that the signal will not carry any worse if they lower their voice! Then again some people want others to hear all the details of their love life or whether they should get more milk from the store, it may well make them feel important.

So what are the common courtesy rules while using a mobile phone?

1. Don’t talk and drive.

2. No need to shout, it is a phone not a mega phone, this is very bad manners, be softly spoken, your mobile has a very sensitive microphone.

3. Turn it off while at the movies, in a restaurant, in church, at a concert and in hospitals, libraries and anywhere else that it could intrude.

4. Please, please turn it off while on a date! You will not look popular, you will look like a tool and a bad mannered one at that.

5. All those guidelines apply to texting as well.

6. Remember to keep your mobile conversations private, step outside when in company,and don’t forget to excuse yourself when you do so.

7. Obnoxious ringtones, are well.. obnoxious, we don’t want to hear flatulence noises, or the sounds of machine gun fire, bad noises= bad manners, please there is no need to have the ringtones so loud as to make everyone jump.

The mobile phone has become so very widely used very quickly, we have not really had a chance to get that used to them and I suspect some people are still coming to grips with the very basic mobile phone etiquette. When in doubt put your phone on vibrate, this way you can see who is calling and make a note to call them back or go to a more private place to talk, to have good mobile phone manners is only common sense.